Return of the Padawan
by SillyCC
Summary: Ahsoka Tano is dying. In her final moments, something white engulfs her. What will she do when she finds herself in the future, forced to deal with the horrors that became of her friends? Inspired by AutumnChild22's fanfic 'Messing Up Timelines'
1. Prologue

**Prologue: Live or Live Not, There is No Die (right now)**

_My breath is coming in short gasps, though probably not the smartest thing to do when your air is limited and being sucked up by flames. It feels as if I was wearing a parka on Tatooine; the heat pressing into my lungs and making my throat raspy and sore._

_What seems even more painful is Master Skywalker's gaze upon me. I can tell he's shouting my name, his gloved fists pounding against the small window of the incinerator. I knew it's too late, and he should accept that it is right for me to leave. Better me than them._

_The air is getting thinner, and I try as hard as I can to inhale the air, not the smoke. It's so hard to breathe, I feel like I should just give up and let my Force become one with the universe. Master Skywalker's face keeps me alive, though, as the one I saw as family looks at me with regret in his eyes. Master Kenobi seems much to placid, though, his regular determination plastered across his face, hidden under that beard._

_I've always wondered why he had one._

_As I smile a bit at what could've been a silly last thought, I look back to my Master, who has already begun to cut an opening in the first door. It's of no use; he wouldn't make it. "Anakin," I whispered, feeling everything get hazier. Whether that was from smoke or the pressure of death, I'm not sure. The last thing I see is Master Kenobi's lips forming two simple words: "Be careful."_

_My eyebrows raise as my breaths become too rapid to continue, and I close my eyes. My Master's shouts of agony are my lullaby, the white glow behind my eyelids my parting gift. Wait... White?_


	2. This is Not The Time You Are Looking For

**Chapter One: This is Not the Time You're Looking For**

I screamed. Suddenly, as I clutched at my body as if that would've protected me from the licking flames, I realized something. I'm not dead. "I'm not dead!" I muttered, smiling just slightly. I'm not dead, right? Suddenly, as I laid my hands on the ground, I discovered something odd: I'm not in a medical ward. I'm somewhere...sandy...

"Sand?" I said under my breath, still slightly disoriented from my deathly burning, looking at my hand, to which sand definitely stuck. Okay, now I was for _sure_ I wasn't dead.

"Wait a second," I said more audibly, looking around with my squinting eyes, spitting a bit of dust from my dry mouth. The only place I knew of with this much sand was..."Tatooine?!" I said even more loudly. "Ack," opening my mouth more widely was a bad idea. A sandstorm seemed to be approaching.

Right as I began to stand up, I discovered something. "Holy Good Force, why am I here?" I muttered, asking only to myself, as I looked around. That wasn't much help, all I saw was sand, sand, and more sand.

Did I forget to mention there was sand?

Oh yeah, and those masked figures running towards me with pointy stick-things.

Wait, pointy stick-things? Oh Force, those are Sand People! I picked myself up quickly, brushing off some sand from my...tan Jedi robes with a brown cloak...and dismissed that clothing statement as I reached for my lightsaber. _Too late_, I thought, as the creatures advanced. They raised their sticks above their heads and screamed terrible screams, their masks looking much like the screaming faces they seemed to imitate.

Another sound interrupted their screams,and I turned my head. It was odd, the new figure looked similarly robed to me. The figure scared away the Sand Creatures somehow, then coming closer to me once they were far enough away.

He lifted his brown hood to get a closer look at me, and I gasped. That face...

"Obi-Wan?" I said in surprise as he scrutinized my appearance. I felt instantly embarrassed, it was not right to call a Master Jedi by their first name or without at least with "Master." He too seemed surprised at seeing me, and soon he raised his own eyebrows in question.

"Young one, how do you know that name?" He said, his voice sounding old and wrangled. It hurt to see him like this, so old, so...

Wait, how did he look this old?

"Maybe I am dead," I said, clutching at my chest. That would be a simple explanation. Surely time flowed differently when you were dead, maybe Master Kenobi lived a nice, long life as a Jedi and was killed by some epic Sith or something like that.

The Master Jedi chuckled, a smile wrinkling his face even more. "My little one, you are not dead, though you might've been soon if I would have not been walking these sandy hills. Now tell me, how did you know Obi-Wan?"

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Okay, so either I'm not dead or he's just trying to console me. No, I'm betting it's the first one. That means though, something weird is up. "Um," I say, trying to recollect things, "Obi-Wan was my master's, uh, master. He trained him as a Jedi, and in turn his padawan became my master later. His name was Master A—"

"Anakin Skywalker..." The old man looked off into the distance, as if he were remembering some old tale. The silence was deafening, but soon it was broken. "Padawan...Ahsoka?" He said, now looking at me, a look of deep sorrow etched into the wrinkles of the corners of his eyes.

I nodded, swallowing a lump in my throat. I was surely in trouble, maybe I'd been in a coma and then shot off in an escape pod years later because they thought I'd never wake. The only thing was, shouldn't I have some sort of burn scars?

He looked at me with great surprise and muttered only loud enough so that I could hear him at the close distance we stood. "You look just as you did the day the Force took you..."

Okay, that made no sense. What did he mean _the day the Force took _me? Was that the—

Oh Force.

Something was definitely up.

~.~.~

"Ahsoka, I cannot believe it is you," Obi-Wan said as he sat down on a seat in his hut. He'd asked me to come to his home, which was barely anything, and I agreed. He knew me, I knew him, nothing was the matter. "I was for sure you'd have shown up before this, I was for sure the Force would have brought you back before—" he stopped, his eyes looking off into space again, a look of fear and regret wiping away his kinder, softer face.

"Master?" I said, waving a hand in front of his face. I still couldn't get over how old he looked, it was so discomforting.

He shook his head lightly and looked at me with a sorrowful face, then speaking again. "I'm sorry, Ahsoka, it's just...much has changed in the near-thirty years you were gone..."

I must've looked completely stupid, my eyes wide and mouth open the way they did in that statement. "But Master, I—I—it was just minutes ago to me that I was dying in those flames! How could I...wait, had you said the _Force_ took me? When we were out in the desert? What did you mean?"

He dipped his head for a second, lifting it back up slowly. "Ahsoka, when a Jedi dies, sometimes the Force has more planned for them. They may be sent back in time, or forward in time, or become one _with_ the Force as my master, Qui-Gon Jinn had. You clearly have some importance in this time now, so the Force decided to place you back in time with me, here on Tatooine."

I nodded, everything seeming just as crazy as usually the Force would seem, and then pursed my lips. "Wait, but why am I in these clothes?"

Obi-Wan chuckled, "the Force was kind to you, those clothes are good for a planet such as this. Do not worry, the few who have traveled like this have usually woken up to much less upon them." I was glad to see him smiling again, but there was still some sort of terrible pain wrenching at his heart.

"Master, what's wrong?" I said, truly worried for my aging friend.

He sighed. "Oh, Ahsoka, in some ways I wish you wouldn't have come at this time..."

I raised my eyebrows. This didn't seem good.

He sensed that I wanted to know, so again he let out a deep breath and began his story. "Once you were supposedly killed, at least to Anakin, he became darker in spirit. The Force wasn't good on him, he began to easily channel his anger into his fighting. You know he had deeply cared for you, even though as Jedi we must not form attachments like that.

"The Clone Wars were becoming tougher and more time-consuming, and Chancellor Palpatine"—he spit that word—"was working to gain more power and stop the wars. He announced Anakin as his personal eyes and ears, and soon Anakin was jealous. Palpatine had been filling Anakin with wrong words, with lies, and with hatred towards the Council. Soon Anakin believed we all were against him, as he believed he was ready to become a Master. He was the only one on the Council to be less than such.

"One day, as he was speaking with Palpatine, the Chancellor tried to pull him towards the dark side. You see, Palpatine was the Darth Sideous we had been hearing of all that time. A group of council members charged into the room and tried to kill him; but, he killed them all. Mace Windu had the worst death being cut in half, then being sent down to the ground through the window, riddled with Sith lightning. Sideous came out largely unscathed, except for scars from lightning, and then finally persuaded Anakin to join the Dark Side."

"No," I breathed, my eyes wide in terror. Not Anakin. Not my Skyguy.

"Yes," he said sorrowfully, his eyes dropping. "One of the reasons he wanted this so badly was because Padmé was carrying his child—children, we'd find out later. He'd seen a vision of her dying in childbirth, and wanted to prevent that from happening.

"His new powers did not help him, rather, they hurt him and many others. Most of the Jedi Younglings were killed off by him, and an order to the clones had been sent out by Palpatine: to kill off all the Jedi. I luckily evaded them, instead going with Padmé to try and persuade Anakin to come back.

"It didn't work out well. He and I fought, even though I was so pained by this, and I soon had to end it."

My eyes were wide in terror, I didn't want to hear this, and yet, I also did.

His head and eyes were low, "I cut off his legs and remaining arm, leaving him at the river of lava on the planet at which he'd arrived. He burned half to death, though still had the strength to name his hatred of me. It hurt, but I had to do it. I took his lightsaber and left him there to...die..." He looked on the verge of tears, obviously in pain of retelling the story.

I, though, was way past the verge of tears, they were streaming down my face as I cried out in my head. "Did he die?" I said quietly, my throat making my voice croaky.

He shook his head solemnly. "No, he was taken by Palpatine and restored. Given fully-functional robotic legs and arms, along with a suit that helped him to breathe in his time of need, Anakin became the full representation of what had taken over him. He had himself killed Anakin Skywalker, leaving only Darth Vader in his place."

My tears blurred my vision, and I gasped for breath that wouldn't come easily. "I can't believe..." I couldn't even finish that sentence, it was so painful. It almost seemed as if death would've been a better option for him, as if what he had become now was worse than anything, than any type of death. "What of his children?"

Obi-Wan sighed. "They were split up at birth. Leia was taken to Alderaan, and Luke here to Tatooine. I've not seen Leia ever since, but Luke I've seen just a few times as he's traversed the deserts of this barren place."

As if a tiny spark had appeared on the waterlogged wood of this tale, I smiled a little. "So there is still a chance?"

He nodded, a small yet forced smile on his lips. The story had obviously drained him emotionally, and I understood well. He knew what was best for me as well, as he stood up, coming back with a blanket. "It is close to sunset, you'll need this."

I accepted the blanket and followed him into a small, empty room with a few sacks in it. He let me be, and I soon had a pitiful and yet somehow comfortable bed for the cold night. And cold it was; I discovered the entirety of it as I changed for sleep.

Underneath my heavy brown robe were the shorter, tan robes with a wrapped vest of the same over it. I unbuckled a brown leather belt, unwrapped the vest, and slipped off the loose-fitting fabric. Underneath that was a more tight-fitting brown top with leather wrist cuffs, matching the brown leggings that had been partially hidden under the tan robe. I decided to put the tan wrap back over it, along with the belt, and sighed. That was more like it.

The thinner fabric wasn't exactly a smart idea, though, as I soon found out as I laid my head down on the sacks for bed. I shivered, pulling the heavy outer robe over me and sighing, wondering how exactly this whole endeavor would finish.

~.~.~

A bright light shone behind my eyelids, and I screamed. Had that whole meeting with Master Kenobi and the story of Master Skywalker been a hallucination thanks to the heat and smoke? I opened my eyes slowly, both relieved and disappointed as the light dimmed slightly as I moved my head. It was just the light of the two suns of Tatooine. I shrugged the remaining robe off of me, as most had come off in the night as I dreamt.

The heat was not as much as yesterday, perhaps I was lucky. Or perhaps it was just morning.

I grumbled a little bit as I rubbed my eyes, reaching for my lightsaber. My hand went for the hilt, but it wasn't there. "For the love of all things good and other-worldly," I said worriedly. My eyes widened as I searched all across the belt for my saber. "Forceforceforceforceforceforce..." I said at rapid pace, a few beads of sweat rolling down my lekku.

Shooting straight up like a lightsaber from its hilt, I poked my head right out the doorway and dashed right back into the main room. Master Kenobi was gone.

Just my luck. I sat down with my head in my hands, a few mutters escaping my lips. First of all, I was in the future with no knowledge of almost thirty years. Secondly, I was on the Outer Rim with no spaceships around here to my knowledge. Thirdly, who knew where Master Kenobi was? Finally, and worst of all, I was defenseless.

"No saber, no ship, no knowledge, no master, no way," I grumbled, resting my hands on my knees and my chin on my hands. How was I supposed to do anything here, I didn't even know where in Tatooine I was, it all looked the same to me.

I looked out the window and saw just what could've been almost anywhere on this planet. Sand and Sand People. And something shiny.

Wait, that shiny thing was moving! Throwing all safety out the window, I darted out the door towards the source of the moving object. Obviously it wasn't a Sand Person, I didn't see any weapons on it.

Now I was wishing I had that cloak, though, as the sand was soon in every wrinkle of fabric and down my boots. I coughed a bit, the sandstorm hadn't died down yet. Luckily for me, though, it wasn't a super-strong storm, so I could still barely see and walk. Pushing at the wind as if it were solid, I headed further towards the object.

As I got closer, I suddenly gasped. "Ack!" I said, coughing up a fit as the sand went down my windpipe. "Aw, man, that wasn't exactly smart," I wheezed, pounding on my chest. Keeping my mouth shut, I ran up to the object. I knew it had looked familiar!

"Artoo?" I said incredulously, hissing the words through my teeth so I wouldn't get as much sand down my throat. I didn't need to, though, as the storm seemed to be finally dying down. "Artoo, if that's you, I can't believe it!"

The droid beeped, and through the many adventures I'd had with him, I could tell they were noises of happy confirmation.

I grinned widely, the sand not blowing nearly as much as before, and almost hugged the cylindrical droid. "I can't believe you're here! Out of all the planets I'd wound up on, I'd be on the one you and Master Kenobi were!"

He chirped again at that name, and I nodded. "Can you believe it? Aw, man, you look great for thirty years in my future." I chuckled a little, patting the droid as I stood up again. "Hmm, what're you doing here, though?" I added, half wondering aloud for myself only.

The droid seemed to be about to beep when I heard an unfamiliar voice. "Artoo!" They said, seeming relieved to find the droid.

"Who's this?" I said, looking down at the astromech with curiosity and surprise.

He beeped just a few times, but they were muffled by the sound of landspeeder engines. "Artoo?" The voice said again, as two figures exited the speeder. "Who's this?" He said, as I'd now discovered, and I slightly chuckled as he said the exact same thing as me just seconds ago.

The second figure was a complete surprise to me. It was Master Kenobi! "Maste—" I began, being cut off by my old master quickly, as if something was wrong.

"My young one, why were you out?" He said with some urgency as he walked towards me with the older boy.

I rubbed my arm, looking sideways for a second, and sighed. "It was just, my lightsa—"

"We will speak of this later," he interrupted again, not seeming to like me mentioning quite anything at the moment.

I puffed out a breath of air and patted the droid. "What was Artoo doing out here?" I questioned.

"Wait, you know Artoo?" The boy said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, he used to—" I cut myself off this time, knowing quite well I shouldn't mention anything of where I was from, and bit my lip. "Uh, I mean, I heard you calling his name, so I guess it was a lucky guess, heh..." I blushed a little, though it was barely visible on my orange-y skin.

The old Jedi sighed and nodded, walking past and around me, coming behind me to look at the droid. "We'd better get this little fella back to my home, eh?" He said, a calmer tone in his voice. The boy walked up as well, taking a good look at my little astromech buddy. "Young ones, will you please help me get this little droid into the landspeeder?"

I nodded, coming up to hold the "head" of the droid as we brought him back to the speeder, and with a sigh of relief, we set him down. "Ah, there we go," I said, brushing some sand from my hands. "Oh, and looks like the sandstorm is done."

"Sandstorm?" The boy laughed, smiling a bright smile, "That was just wind. You don't love around here, do you?"

My eyes were wide in surprise, this was just wind? "Well, I've been here before, while I was—" again, my big mouth almost got me into trouble. "Um, I've been here before."

The boy didn't seem to be bothered by my correction, and Master Kenobi sighed in relief when he saw nothing was awry. What was so important about this guy that Master Kenobi was so apprehensive about this?

I decided to trust him, he'd been right about me getting her anyways. How did he know about that, anyways? Eh, I'd ask him later, maybe once this guy was gone. He gestured for me to get into the back of the speeder, and when I sat in the seat I gasped again. "Oh!" I said, looking at just what was beside me.

Both Obi-Wan and the boy looked at me, and I bit my lip again.

Good thing I could think of something quick. "Sorry, just was surprised. Thought this uh, thing, was a person..." Okay, maybe that was a good excuse in my own mind, but at least I didn't say "C-3PO" out loud or anything.

The boy seemed okay with that answer, though he turned back more slowly as of he were a bit suspicious of me, but Master Kenobi gave me a look I often had seen him give to my own master. I nodded solemnly and then smiled, winking. The corners of his mouth turned slightly up, and he gave a wink back. I was glad he wasn't mad, and I was also curious about the boy.

More and more I thought about it, and more and more I saw similarities to Master Skywalker in this guy. I mean, he even sounded just a bit like him, though that was probably just me missing those I knew well. I pushed away those suggestions, keeping them on the back burner for now.

~.~.~

We arrived back at the hut, and it seemed even smaller now that there were two robot-things and three people in here, so I decided to go over to the other side of the largest (yet still somewhat small) room to make some drinks for all of us.

I came back to something surprising, and I just about said something right out loud before I bit my tongue. The thing was though, I didn't save the tray of drinks. They clattered to the floor, and I hid my surprise by ducking down to gather them right away. The hum droned in my ears, and the glow fell onto the floor with a similar color.

That was a lightsaber. And it wasn't just any old lightsaber, but Anakin's. My master's lightsaber, kept by Master Kenobi all these years. As I grabbed the last cup and set it on the tray, I quickly turned back around and went right back to where I first made the drinks, taking all the time I could.

"What was that about, Ben?" The boy said, and my face contorted into a confused manner as he said the name. Who was he calling Ben? Surely not Master Kenobi...

I finally discovered I couldn't take any longer to pour cups of lukewarm tea, and sighed, turning back around and walking back to where the two sat. I handed a cup to both the old Jedi and to the boy, and then I took one for myself. I just decided to stand, just in case anything else weird happened.

The boy had thanked me for the drink but hadn't seemed pleased with it, I could tell by how he tried to hide the distaste for it. I took one sip and decided the same, making a note to not serve Obi-Wan's tea to _anyone_ again.

The old man gestured to me with a wrinkled hand, "This is Ahsoka Tano. Found her out in the desert much like you, boy. Quite odd, really." I smiled a bit and shook the boy's hand, surprised by the callouses. This boy must work on those homesteads I'd seen on my missions here. "And this, Ahsoka, is Luke Skywalker, I...knew his father." I was glad we'd already shook hands, else I wouldn't've been able to move and be polite if we'd waited till now. This was...my master's _son_. I couldn't believe I didn't realize it, I couldn't believe the coincidence of meeting him.

Master Kenobi sensed my surprise, and he chuckled a little. "Ah, Ahsoka, she's a bit shy around newcomers," he smiled and winked my way, and all of a sudden I felt calmer. Maybe the realization had almost helped me, and I smiled sheepishly towards Luke. I didn't say anything, but just decided to go with the shy thing, I'd be able to speak later.

Luke looked back to Obi-Wan and cleared his throat. "So, I don't think you got to answer me before. How did my father die?"

Oh Good Force, I wasn't ready to hear that again. I looked frantically around, trying to remember where I was trying to go, and stepped cautiously around the table. "E-excuse me, Master, I...must go," I said shakily, turning the corner to find the doorway of my temporary room.

As the two men's conversation fell into just background noise to me, I wrapped myself in my arms and sighed. What would Luke say or do when he discovered what his father had become? If it had been this rough for me, think of what it might be for him... Although, Master Kenobi had said the twins had never seen their father. Maybe it would be different for him...

"Ahsoka?" The familiar voice said softly.

I looked up to see Master Kenobi looking down at me, his face sullen. "I'm sorry, I just—" I began, but he simply nodded as my tears dried.

He crouched down beside me, setting a hand on my shoulder. "I understand, it still hurts for me to say it." Sitting more comfortably, though it took some work to do so, he sat next to me and sighed. "Now, I didn't think that this would happen. I honestly thought you wouldn't come back. Anyways, you must know that young Luke does not know all that you know. To him, his father was killed by Vader. They are not the same person. He also does not know of his mother, or of his sister. It would be best if you say little to him and say nothing of your own past."

I nodded, understanding fully what could happen if such details were released. "I'll do my best, Master Kenobi."

The old man chuckled. "Please, Ahsoka, just call me Ben. Everyone knows me as Ben Kenobi here, though Luke does know of my participation in the wars with Anakin. He just knows a more...abbreviated version. I hope you understand this and how important it is."

My head dipped again, a smile on my lips. "I promise...Ben."

**~.~.~**

**AN/ Well, there we have it! The first chapter of my fanfiction. Remember, the idea is from **_**Messing Up Time Lines**_**, a fanfiction by AutumnChild22. Go read it!**

**Now remember, reviews are everything! I'd love it if you left a review, that'd be just great ^^**


	3. That's No Slave!

**Chapter Two: That's No Slave!**

I was enjoying my little moment with the old Jedi. It seemed like comfort was never first-option as a Jedi, but now, here I was, Master Kenobi here to ease my sorrows. I laughed a little bit, a small smile coming onto my lips.

"What?" He said, the corners of his mouth turning up.

I sighed, "It's nothing, I was just thinking how much you looked like you could be my grandpa right now." I rolled my eyes a little, basically laughing at myself because of the thought.

His reaction was delayed by a short, sad, moment. Then he chuckled as I had. "Yes, make fun of my age. It has not been the best to me. My own master, Qui-Gon, was sixty and still with a full head of hair. Then here's me, the same age, and yet somehow I've gone white and am losing half of it already. Time is a cruel thing." He smiled, though, his humor still there.

"Sixty?!" I said, a laugh almost escaping, before my mouth made a small "o" shape and I closed my eyes with a smile. "I mean, you look fine, Maste—Ben."

Once I opened my eyes to his chuckle, he then raised his eyebrows with pursed lips. "Ah, and that reminds me. Luke, seeing you called me 'Master' and acting the way you did, thinks you are my slave."

My mouth gaped open and my eyebrows furrowed a little. "Me? I—I—what? But I—he had the...the...lightsaber! Doesn't he realize I—" I sighed, my hand going to my forehead and a small smile on my lips.

"Yes, we'll clear that up later. You're not too mad? He'd commented on it right before I left to speak to you here," Ben smiled again, patting my shoulder.

I nodded, lifting my head and beginning to stand up. "Ah well, we'd better clear it up, huh?"

Ben was about to speak when we heard a voice or two from the main room. "Hey, Ben? I think I got it working,"

The old Jedi stood up with amazing agility, and I followed. "What does he mean 'got it working'?"

He brought a finger up to his lips and winked. "We'll see, young one. Why don't you sit down by Luke and we'll see what happened."

I nodded and sat down, keeping my distance hard as it was on the smaller couch. He seemed a bit surprised, but then looked back to the hologram. Wait—hologram? I looked closed, seeing a young woman in the blue, fuzzy light. She was saying something, so I listened more intently to it.

_"Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope,"_ was repeated over and over again, and I furrowed my eyebrows in curiosity. Someone else knew Ben's real name? I waited for something else to be said, seeing how she knew him, but nothing else happened. I sighed, waiting for Luke or Ben to turn off the hologram since it obviously had nothing else to say, though I was curious as to why the woman wouldn't say anything else.

I sighed again, "Some help she is," escaping my lips as a mutter. I kinda hoped they hadn't heard that, it had been a little rude, I was just a little annoyed by how Luke watched her—wait, what? Another sigh came out, and I wiped my sweaty palms on my leggings. Get a hold of yourself, Ahsoka, just focus on what's important. I decided to say something; maybe they just hadn't thought to check. "Does she say anything else?" I asked, squinting a bit at the hologram.

"I dunno," Luke said, leaning his arms on his knees as he watched the girl, "this is all she's said since it appeared. Artoo keeps disregarding the hologram altogether, so he's no help, the little droid."

I smiled, laughing through my nose. "Yeah, he can do that."

His face fell and he looked at me again. "Wait, what do you mean?"

In my head I kicked myself, stepping a bit on my own toe physically to add to it. "Uh, what do _you _mean?" I said quickly, grinning sheepishly and darting my eyes back and forth a bit. _Force almighty, I messed that up_.

He scrutinized my face for a few seconds, and then looked back to the hologram, looking like he had given up. I looked towards Ben, apologizing through my expressions, and he gave me another one of those looks that I'd always seen him give to Anakin. I nodded solemnly, then looking to the hologram again. I had to admit she was a nice looking girl, but I was just mainly curious as to why she knew Ben and why she needed his help.

Luke stood up and bent over the astromech, beginning to fiddle with some of the panels on the droid. I hoped he knew how to work with a droid, I was getting nervous.

"Ah," the boy sighed proudly, a grin on his face. The hologram shut off for a few seconds, Luke's face falling and eyebrows knitting together, and then came back on to his delight. The girl began her speech:

_"General Kenobi, years ago you served my father in the Clone Wars. Now he begs you to help him in his struggle against the Empire. I regret that I am unable to present my father's request to you in person, but my ship has fallen under attack and I'm afraid my mission to bring you to Alderaan has failed. I have placed information vital to the survival of the Rebellion into the memory systems of this R2 unit. My father will know how to retrieve it. You must see this droid safely delivered to him on Alderaan. This is our most desperate hour. Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope."_

This woman knew...a lot. I blinked my eyes, surprised by the information. Alderaan, I didn't remember much of that planet, nor what she might be talking about, but heck, I'm a girl from the past now in the future: I can't know much of what's happened the last twenty-or-so years. Did I know anyone Ben had served in the Clone Wars? There were so many, I couldn't remember all of them, that'd be impossible...

"Who is that?" Luke said, his eyes wide. If I would've known him better, I might've nudged him to tell him to stop gawking, but that would've been weird given these circumstances. There were multiple reasons to feel weird about this situation, but I was mainly thinking of how he thought I was a slave at the moment. How could he seriously think that? I mean sure, I called him Master, I served them drinks, and I'm an alien species of rarity I suppose, but…

Okay, maybe he has a point. I sighed and watched Ben and Luke's expressions, especially Ben's, and tried to gather more information. Going over it in my head didn't help, so I decided I would wait until someone else came up with answers.

Thank goodness for Ben. He nodded solemnly, folding his fingers. "Obi-Wan Kenobi. I haven't been called that in a long time."

"So you're Obi-Wan?" Luke said incredulously, and I held back a chuckle. Of course he was! Didn't the robes say anything? Apparently no one knew about Jedi, though, so I dismissed that obvious hint. What a sad future this really was, no one knowing of the Jedi and what they'd done.

Ben smiled sadly, nodding. "Indeed, young one. I fought in the Clone Wars with your father." So he had told him how he knew his father and how he died, but not about the Clone Wars? How did that happen? I decided to let it go, Ben might've been a little scatter-brained now.

Luke's surprise was quite amazing, as he'd already discovered so much, and I couldn't hold back the smile this time. I cupped a hand to my face instead, tilting my head downwards slightly. "So _that's_ how you knew my father," he breathed, nodding slowly. C'mon, Luke, put two and two together. People in the future can't be this incredulous, right?

Oh well. Ben nods, and then gestures to the astromech droid. "He knows a lot, Luke, we should return him to this woman. It may do the Rebel Alliance a favor."

Luke raised an eyebrow. "Wait, me go off Tatooine? I've rarely been further than Mos Eisely! And I think I'm already late for dinner…" He said, clearly a bit overwhelmed by all this.

I stood up then; perhaps I could convince him somehow to go. "Ben, I could go with you," I said confidently.

That sure surprised poor Luke. He still thought I was a slave, eh? Well, now, Ben would have to explain it now.

"Did she just call you Ben? I—"

Ben raised a hand and smiled. "Luke, I'm afraid you were wrongly assuming of Ahsoka. She is not my slave, young one, as you had thought."

"But she called you Master—"

"She originally trained in the Imperial Academy and has recently joined the Rebel Alliance. Is it not customary in training to call your teacher Master?"

Luke was stuck. I smiled and extended my hand; glad my face didn't show the blush. "Sorry about all that. I was just stuck in my old ways is all. As Ben said, I'm Ahsoka. Ahsoka Tano."

He shakes it firmly again, now seeming a bit sheepish. I guess anyone would feel that way after assuming one a slave. After we were reacquainted, we turned back to Ben. Luke seemed almost more wanting to go, seeing by the spark in his eyes. "I might be able to convince my parents, Ben, if we go now."

It was getting dark, so Ben agreed that it would be best to go now.

I decided to stay behind as they left, not wanting to cause any more trouble, and also so I could get a grip on the situation. I still didn't know who that young woman was…

~.~.~

The landspeeder's engine greeted me as I awaited Ben's return. "Ben, how did it go? I—" I was stopped mid-sentence by the sullen Luke that followed behind Ben. "What happened?" I added, my expression concerned.

He merely shook his head and gestured for me to go to my temporary room. "We leave in the morning," he said quietly, sitting across from the saddened boy. I decided maybe it was best to leave them be, but glanced back curiously as I walked away.

It was a better time than ever, I supposed, to decipher the girl's message. I couldn't help but see something familiar in the woman, quite like when I first met Luke. Her dark hair and eyes, look of regality, and way she held herself; why was this gnawing at me so?

Then it hit me. I knew that face all too well. Ben had mentioned Luke had a sister. He didn't mention, though, that she looked like her mother.

Of course! I smacked my forehead, muttering to myself how I should've at once noticed that. I guess, though, that seeing it in a simple hologram could've made it harder somehow…

The heavy fall of footsteps alerts me of Ben's presence, and I can't help but chuckle. Merely a few hours ago we were in this exact situation, although I was crying and quite sad-looking. This time, Ben seems the one going through a tough time.

"His aunt and uncle are dead," He says quietly, sensing the confusion in my eyes.

"Is he not going to go to return Artoo?" I regretted not mentioning condolences, but I decided I could give them to Luke instead, making them more direct than going through a mutual friend—if he was that much to Luke.

"Actually, this has convinced him to go, young one," He said, trying to paint a smile over his weary frown. "You are still up for tagging along, I assume?"

I nod, a small smile on my lips, and I pull on my heavy outer robe. "Of course, Ben."

"Now you understand how dangerous this can become, one from the past coming into the future?" Ben says, looking into my eyes with his bright blue ones. I nod, confirming it for him, and he nods in turn. "Good, because I don't want anything to happen to Luke, or to you."

"I'll keep myself safe, Ben," I say with a smile.

Ben clasps my shoulder. "Good," he whispers, his hand leaving my shoulder. "Now, get some rest, Ahsoka, tomorrow we go to Mos Eisley. We're going to find a pilot."

**~.~.~**

**AN/Sorry for the hiatus! I've been so busy lately that I haven't really given this fsnfiction love. Shout out to those who still followed it when I hadn't updated for the longest time!**

**I'll now be trying to update every Sunday, as is my goal. Kindly assume that if I post post that Sunday, I've added a week to my deadline for time-management issues.**

**Each chapter will now be approximately 2000 words, as I feel I can't uphold a 4000-word chapter average at the moment. It also makes it easier to update every week!**

**Please tell me if any characters seem OOC! I'm mainly concerned with Ahsoka; I haven't seen Clone Wars for a while :T**

**Please review; it makes writing more even more exciting!**

**~SillyCC~**


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